Factores maternos y bajo peso al nacer en el policlínico "Guillermo Tejas", Las Tunas

Fundamento: los factores de riesgo maternos tienen gran repercusión sobre el producto de la concepción, la modificación de estos constituye un poderoso instrumento para la reducción de la mortalidad infantil.Objetivo: caracterizar factores maternos presentes en los casos de bajo peso al nacer, registrados en el Policlínico Universitario "Guillermo Tejas", de Las Tunas, durante 2018.Métodos: se realizó un estudio descriptivo en la institución y durante el período de tiempo declarados en el objetivo. El universo estuvo constituido por las 441 paridas que tuvieron nacimientos vivos y la muestra se conformó con las 37 madres con producto de la concepción bajo peso, independientemente de la edad y tiempo de gestación. Entre las variables estudiadas se señalan edad materna, paridad, estado nutricional, ganancia de peso y patologías propias del embarazo.Resultados: los casos de bajo peso al nacer fueron más frecuentes en el grupo de edades maternas de 21 a 35 años, en mujeres nuliparidad, con peso materno adecuado a la captación, ganancia insuficiente de peso durante el embarazo, crecimiento intrauterino retardado y rotura prematura de membrana.Conclusiones: se describieron factores maternos presentes en los casos de bajo peso al nacer incluidos en el estudio.</p

Adverse reactions to non-opioid analgesics notified in Las Tunas, 2017 though the first semester of 2019

Background: non-opioid analgesics are the mostly used drugs for pain relief and inflammation worldwide. However, this benefit is closely associated with adverse reactions.Objective: to characterize the adverse reactions to non-opioid analgesics registered at the database of pharmacovigilance of the province of Las Tunas, from 2017 to the first semester of 2019.Methods: a cross-sectional, descriptive, observational study was carried out at the place and during the period herein declared. The university consisted of the 1711 registers of the main adverse reactions conducted in the study period and the sample included 180 corresponding to non-opioid analgesics. Descriptive statistics was used for the analysis of data.Results: the highest number of registers were related to the female sex with 116 reports (64,4 %) and the 41 to 60 age group with 68 (37,8 %). The adverse reactions that predominated were the frequent ones, 68 registers (37,8 %); according to severity there was a higher notification of the mild ones with 98 reports (54,4 %) and according to causality the probable ones prevailed with 137 registers (76,7 %). The mostly affected organ system was the skin, 84 registers (46,7 %), being cutaneous eruption, with 18 registers (10 %), the most registered one within the system and in general among all reactions. The drug with most registers of adverse reactions was metamizole, 56 registers (31,1 %).Conclusions: the study could characterize the notifications of adverse reactions to non-opioid analgesics in Las Tunas.</p

Stress reshapes the physiological response of halophile fungi to salinity

(1) Background: Mechanisms of cellular and molecular adaptation of fungi to salinity have been commonly drawn from halotolerant strains and few studies in basidiomycete fungi. These studies have been conducted in settings where cells are subjected to stress, either hypo- or hyperosmotic, which can be a confounding factor in describing physiological mechanisms related to salinity. (2) Methods: We have studied transcriptomic changes in Aspergillus sydowii, a halophilic species, when growing in three different salinity conditions (No NaCl, 0.5 M, and 2.0 M NaCl). (3) Results: In this fungus, major physiological modifications occur under high salinity (2.0 M NaCl) and not when cultured under optimal conditions (0.5 M NaCl), suggesting that most of the mechanisms described for halophilic growth are a consequence of saline stress response and not an adaptation to saline conditions. Cell wall modifications occur exclusively at extreme salinity, with an increase in cell wall thickness and lamellar structure, which seem to involve a decrease in chitin content and an augmented content of alfa and beta-glucans. Additionally, three hydrophobin genes were differentially expressed under hypo- or hyperosmotic stress but not when the fungus grows optimally. Regarding compatible solutes, glycerol is the main compound accumulated in salt stress conditions, whereas trehalose is accumulated in the absence of salt. (4) Conclusions: Physiological responses to salinity vary greatly between optimal and high salt concentrations and are not a simple graded effect as the salt concentration increases. Our results highlight the influence of stress in reshaping the response of extremophiles to environmental challenges

Osmolyte Signatures for the Protection of Aspergillus sydowii Cells under Halophilic Conditions and Osmotic Shock

Aspergillus sydowii is a moderate halophile fungus extensively studied for its biotechnological potential and halophile responses, which has also been reported as a coral reef pathogen. In a recent publication, the transcriptomic analysis of this fungus, when growing on wheat straw, showed that genes related to cell wall modification and cation transporters were upregulated under hypersaline conditions but not under 0.5 M NaCl, the optimal salinity for growth in this strain. This led us to study osmolyte accumulation as a mechanism to withstand moderate salinity. In this work, we show that A. sydowii accumulates trehalose, arabitol, mannitol, and glycerol with different temporal dynamics, which depend on whether the fungus is exposed to hypo- or hyperosmotic stress. The transcripts coding for enzymes responsible for polyalcohol synthesis were regulated in a stress-dependent manner. Interestingly, A. sydowii contains three homologs (Hog1, Hog2 and MpkC) of the Hog1 MAPK, the master regulator of hyperosmotic stress response in S. cerevisiae and other fungi. We show a differential regulation of these MAPKs under different salinity conditions, including sustained basal Hog1/Hog2 phosphorylation levels in the absence of NaCl or in the presence of 2.0 M NaCl, in contrast to what is observed in S. cerevisiae. These findings indicate that halophilic fungi such as A. sydowii utilize different osmoadaptation mechanisms to hypersaline conditions